Phantom News

Royal Windermere Yacht Club, Phantom open Meeting

9 phantoms attended the RWYC open, 7 travelling and 2 home boats made up the fleet. The forecast was decent and although a bit cloudy, a nice south westerly was blowing. The decision was made to sail in the south basin, meaning a 20 minute sail to the start line. The RO set a long beat, and the start line was nice and square resulting in a nice clean getaway. Although everyone picked different routes up the long beat at the windward mark at least 5 or 6 phantoms were very close, it was nip and tuck from there on with some swapping of places on the downwind legs. Phil Worth had a great second beat and pulled into a small lead, being closely followed by Adam Perry and Martin Knott. Phil held on for the win , with Martin pipping Adam on the line. Not far behind was Matt Nield and Richard Sims. A great race with some close racing throughout, and by Windermere’s standards a nice steady wind. The fleet sailed back in for lunch. After lunch the phantoms were joined by club boats of flying fifteens and dinghies for back to back races , unfortunately before the start Joe Bibby realised there was a large crack in his cst mast, so that was the end of his day, fortunately he has another mast, so shouldn't be off the water for too long.

The wind seemed to have dropped a bit so the RO set a smaller triangle, sausage course. Another good start saw Phil Worth getting a decent start and now the wind was more like Windermere being a bit shifty! Phil was playing the shifts well, although a cluster of boats weren't too far behind. Unfortunately for Phil the screws for his toe straps pulled completely out as he was fully hiked out resulting in a capsize and swim, that was the end of Phil's day who looked like he may have been on for the win. Matt Nield took the lead with Martin Knott closely behind Martin tacked off and went over to the west and Matt continued up the middle and was greeted with a nice gust that he tacked on and fetched the mark at considerable speed, which opened up a gap from the chasing fleet. This was enough to hold on for a couple more laps for Matt to get the win from Martin followed by Richard Rigg who considering he's barely been near his phantom this season was doing very well. Adam Perry and Richard Sims followed.The 3rd and final race was set up quickly to keep the phantoms away from the other fleets, the gusts had picked up and the wind had gone more westerly, meaning big shifts! A long punishing beat followed by some planing reaches amongst some large shifts, which nearly caused a couple of capsizes to windward. Martin Knott sailed a solid race establishing a decent lead followed by Richard Sims then Adam perry and Matt Nield. Places were exchanged downwind and Martins lead had been reduced with Matt Nield now in second place. Martin hung on and got the victory he quite rightly deserved with Matt Nield second Richard Sims 3rd and Adam perry 4th. Aching bodies sailed back to the club for the presentation. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the day with some close racing throughout. There is talk of perhaps a 2 day event next season to hopefully attract sailors from further afield.1st Martin Knott 14342nd Matt Nield 13093rd Adam Perry 14124th Richard Sims 14475th Richard Rigg 14406th Phil Worth 13827th Matt Butler 11388th Ben Bibby 11989th Joe Bibby 1234